“We’re going to become caretakers for the robots. That’s what the next generation of work is going to be.”–Gray Scott

Hmmm. Will we be caretakers for them, or them for us? Will there even be a next generation of work? Hot on the heels of my Seeking Delphi™ podcast interview, with John C. Havens, on ethical considerations in artificial intelligence, comes a flurry of additional A.I.-related stories.

While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes or PlayerFM, and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook

“I think we are at the dawn of a new era in commercial space exploration.”–Elon Musk

Nothing accelerates technological development like competition. It was the competition between the US and the Soviet Union that put a man on the moon in 1969, decades sooner than it would otherwise have occurred. The finish line of that race ended the competition, and we haven’t gone back since. But a new competition, multi-faceted and far more diverse, has begun. The commercial development of space figures to re-accelerate our push into the final frontier. If you’re a fan of space exploration and exploitation, stay tuned, the next few years are going to be exciting.

While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes or PlayerFM, and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook

“My vision of the future is pretty much standard fare. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and there are flying cars.”– Joss Whedon

“Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”–Douglas Adams

These flying car stories just won’t go away. Now hover cars are in the mix as well–though merely hovering might have no great added value other than saving on tires. I still think Douglas Adams has the best idea, as long as he’s not talking about cars.

While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes or PlayerFM, and you can also follow us on Facebook.

–Yuchen Chai, a student at UK art and design school Central Saint Martin, won a design contest for a hover car. The contest was co-sponsored by Renault. Based on the video at this link, it appears to travel just a few inches over the ground. I don’t know about you, I would rather travel over the traffic then over the road.

“Before we work on artificial intelligence why don’t we do something about natural stupidity?” —Steve Polyak

Is this our fate?

There is an ominous feeling in the air about artificial intelligence this week. It seems to be everywhere, as in “all over the news.” Elon Musk? We hear from him on the subject every week. But now one Vladimir Putin has even weighed in. Both Musk and Putin have dark warnings. And Putin’s feels a lot like Littlefinger telling Ned Stark not to trust him. Oh, and don’t forget the Chinese, as they weigh in with a massive A.I. investment. All this as Intel announces a staggering advance in A.I. hardware.

“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.”–Elon Musk

“I want to die on Mars; just not on impact.”

I see a major quandary going forward with this feature. Elon Musk quotes may run out before Elon Musk stories run out. And Elon Musk stories will run out, like, never. Though this week, a couple of the stories could easily be categorized as anti-Musk.

Almost on cue for the stories above, Tesla announced a wide range of ambitious expansion plans at its annual shareholder meeting. Chief among these was a stated goal to eventually build 10-20 gigafactories, with a production capacity of between 12 and 24 million vehicles annually. They’ll need some ambitious charging schemes like the ones mentioned above to make those number viable. Actually, they might first want to concentrate on figuring out how the hell they can sell that many vehicles.

Self-Driving Cars–Honda announced a target date of 2025 for bringing fully self-driving cars to the marketplace. They’ve set a date of 2020 for rolling out vehicles with an autonomous freeway driving option, as an interim step.

“All cities are mad, but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful, but the beauty is grim.”–Christopher Morley

A Jetsons future?

Where will you live in 2050? What will the cities of the future look like? Tomorrowland? The Jetsons? Waterworld? Maybe they will look pretty much the same, but feel very much different. To sort out some of the possible scenarios, I sought out an expert on the urban landscape of the future. Cindy Frewen, Ph. D., is an architect and an adjunct professor in the University of Houston’s graduate foresight program. She designs near-term urban futures, and constructs scenarios for possible longer term futures.

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